In the Space of a Red Light (aka shooting lamps)

Just a story idea that popped into my head on Christmas eve (more like EARLY EARLY Christmas morning) in the car coming home. I wrote it all down when I got home, but thought I'd put it here as well. An actual finished story on this blog! Someone be amazed!! XD

In the Space of a Red Light

Natalie was tired.

She was tired enough to think that pulling out a gun and shooting a street lamp (just so she could say that she had) was a good idea.

She was also too tired to actually do it. Not to say she even had a gun to shoot, persay (but perhaps she had) but it was a good idea, she thought.

So she sat there in the back seat of the car, giggling softly. The car had stopped at a red, and was taking forever to start again. And that damned light, the one directly overhead. It wouldn't stop flickering! It was driving tired little Natalie crazy, and she wondered how much less annoying it would be if it would just STOP THAT DARNED FLICKERING!!

She could imagine what it would be like to tell her classmates about it. They wouldn't believe her at first, but then she would show them the shards of glass, or maybe take them to the scene. They'd be amazed, awestruck, even. She would be celebrity of the week at school. She smiled smugly. That would show Emilee... after kicking her out of the group. They'd said Natalie was worthless; what would they say then? They'd beg her to reconsider. Natalie would take her sweet time, until she did the inevitable and went back to the group.

That STUPID flickering was going to drive Natalie mad! She closed her eyes, plugged in her earbuds, and turned on her music. It soothed her, her music, with its gentle melodies and lilting harmonies. She was almost lulled to sleep when she heard the driver say something. Natalie opened her eyes, grunting in reply. She brushed her short blonde hair away from her face. it was obvious her brain was elsewhere, on that DREADFUL lamp post, but she smiled nontheless and pretended to understand the conversation in the car.

Pity her music was still playing.

She was seriously starting to consider shooting that light. If not that night, then the next one. She would bring something next time, a slingshot or a rock. She would throw it, if need be. Anything to be rid of that seizure waiting to happen.

Would it explode? Maybe glass shards would rain down, cutting anyone below. If so, natalie would have to find a way to do it from farther away; getting hurt or dead was not part of the plan. How high was it? Throwing rocks seemed out of the question, so perhaps projectile weaponry was the best idea.

But this was all turning rather bothersome. Too much effort for Natalie to handle. All she really needed was laservision. That would do it. Or maybe she should just leave the infernal. REPETITIVE. USELESS. Lamp.

Or maybe not.

The traffic light turned green, and Natalie drove away, the flickering lamp already drifting, forgotten, to the back of her tired mind.